Avenger 2.0
"Avenger 2.0" is the 9th episode from the seventh season of military science fiction adventure television show Stargate SG-1 and is the 141st overall. It was first broadcast on August 8, 2003, on the Sci-fi Channel. The episode was written by duo Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, and was directed by Martin Wood.
"Avenger 2.0" | |
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Stargate SG-1 episode | |
Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 9 |
Directed by | Martin Wood |
Written by | Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie |
Featured music | Joel Goldsmith |
Cinematography by | Jim Menard |
Editing by | Brad Rines |
Production code | P275 |
Original air date | August 8, 2003 |
Guest appearances | |
| |
In this episode, Dr. Jay Felger (Patrick McKenna), a scientist at Stargate Command, is struggling to produce anything of merit and his future with the program is called into question by General George Hammond (Don S. Davis). In a desperate attempt to keep his job, Felger presents Major Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) with a computer program he calls Avenger, which he believes they will be able to use in order to permanently disable any Stargate of their choosing.
The episode is a sequel to the season six episode "The Other Guys" which was written by Damian Kindler and directed by Wood. Written as season seven's comedy episode, it focuses predominantly on Amanda Tapping's character Samantha Carter, along with Patrick McKenna, who reprises his role as Dr. Jay Felger. They are joined by Jocelyne Loewen who portrays Chloe Angstrom.
Plot
Dr. Jay Felger (Patrick McKenna) and his assistant, Chloe (Jocelyne Loewen) are working in their lab at Stargate Command, when Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) and Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) arrive to see a demonstration of weapon Felger's been working on. When Felger activates the weapon, it causes power around the base to fail. Afterwards General George Hammond (Don S. Davis), who is unimpressed by Felger's work over the previous six months, questions his future at Stargate Command. A desperate Felger tells Hammond he's working on something big, but Hammond is skeptical and gives him just 24 hours to present something of merit. Back in their lab, Felger tells Chloe what's transpired and decides that he'll pitch an invention he calls Avenger, despite Chloe's warnings that it isn't finished.
The next day he presents his idea to Carter; a computer program that they can use to disable any Stargate. Recognising the idea's potential, Carter sells it to Hammond, who agrees to allow Felger to develop it with Carter. Their program, Avenger, is soon ready to be tested, with a Gate on a planet controlled by the Goa'uld system lord Ba'al selected as the target. After they deploy the program, O'Neill and Teal'c (Christopher Judge), who are off world, fail to check in with Stargate Command at the scheduled time. Stargate Command dials the gate of the planet O'Neill and Teal'c are on and they make contact with the pair who explain to Hammond and Carter that they are unable to dial the Stargate on their world and are therefore stuck, with O'Neill assuming that it's been caused by Felger's program. This is soon confirmed by their allies in the Tok'ra, who inform them that the entire network is being affected and that Stargate Command's Gate is the only one seemingly still working.
Carter deduces from the reports that Avenger appears to have caused a 'periodic correlative update' in the Stargate system, whereby all Stargate's update and compensate for stellar drift, something thought to only occur once ever 200 years and she theorises that this is somehow distributing the virus around the network. Carter believes that Stargate Command remains unaffected as they do not use a traditional Dial-Home Device with the Earth Stargate, but instead use their own contraption. Stargate Command does its best to bring its off-world personnel back to Earth, but O'Neill and Teal'c remain stuck and now under attack from enemy forces, whilst they also make contact with Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) who is also stuck on another planet where the rising floods threaten him and the inhabitants that he was helping relocate. Carter, Chloe and Felger try to find a solution and soon learn that Ba'al is benefiting from the chaos by using his large fleet of ships to attack other Goa'uld system lords. After failing to fix the situation, Felger slips out of Stargate Command. Carter goes to find him and talks him into coming back and they conclude that the Stargate on the planet controlled by Ba'al which they originally targeted with the virus might hold the key to fixing the problem. Knowing that they will be stuck off-world if they cannot fix the Stargate, Carter and Felger volunteer to go to the planet, despite it being controlled by the forces of Ba'al.
Both Carter and Felger leave for the planet, prepped with an anti-virus program which they believe will undo the damage caused by Avenger. When they start to work on the Dial-Home Device, Felger soon discovers that Avenger has been tampered with and the pair conclude that it must have been the work of Ba'al, since he gained most when the gate system went offline. As it's no longer Avenger they're working with, Felger has to come up with a whole new program and to make matters worse, one of Ba'al's Jaffa patrol's arrives at the Stargate. Carter fends off the patrol, but the Jaffa call for reinforcements who soon press their attack against Carter and Felger. As the pair are cornered and running out of options, a Goa'uld Alkesh ship descends upon the pair, but much to their surprise begins attacking Ba'al's Jaffa, who retreat. The Alkesh ring transport activates and O'Neill and Teal'c emerge, having stolen the ship from their attackers and decided to come and help. Felger is then able to solve the problem and they return to Stargate Command.
Production
Development and writing
After his introduction in the season six episode "The Other Guys", the SG-1 writers were keen to bring back the character Dr. Jay Felger, portrayed by Patrick McKenna.[1][2][3] Executive producer Robert C. Cooper conceived "the notion of a virus that can potentially target and shut down specific gates", which he married with bringing back Felger.[1] Cooper observed that in "The Other Guys", Felger was "so over the top and wacky" that coming up for a reason for him to return "was really about coming up with something even more spectacularly stupid for him to have done" which is how the writers arrived at the character seemingly braking the entire Stargate system, commenting that it was "the only thing we could possibly imagine being big enough".[4][3] Although Cooper came up with the story, it was assigned to Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie to flesh out and script. Writer of "The Other Guys" Damian Kindler, who created Felger, had hoped to write it, jesting "at first I was like, 'I created Felger! I want to write Felger!' But then, when I stopped whining, I thought, 'Well this is exciting. I want to see how they write him, what their take is".[5]
Mullie and Mallozzi worked on their outline for what they originally referred to as "Felger Gate Screw-Up" in January 2003, with Mallozzi revealing "It takes us only a couple of days to hammer out a tease and five solid acts". Robert C. Cooper then pointed out that their "first act would make a better second act break", so the writing duo reworked their story accordingly.[6] In their script, Mallozzi included "a salute to one of my own high school teachers, Mr. Hoffan", having Felger refer to Mallozzi's former science teacher in a scene with Chloe.[7] At one stage, it was written that Felger would be still be living with his mother, however it was changed to him instead living alone.[2] The writing duo struggled to come up with a title for the episode, with "System Crash", "Domino Effect", "Deadlock", "Paralysis", "Gridlock", and "No Way Back" all being considered and rejected. According to Mallozzi "The titles grow increasingly ridiculous, bearing little if any relation to the story" with "Flashpoint", "Dark Gambit" and "Twilight of Nevermore" all being rejected before Robert C. Cooper suggested "Avenger 2.0".[6] Mallozzi noted that "Avenger 2.0" was one of the last episodes that "Paul Mullie, and I truly co-wrote", with the pair instead doing most of their work separately in for future episodes.[8]
A comic book was created for the story, The Amazing Avenger, which in the episode would inspire Felger's naming of the virus. Director Martin Wood noted that naming the virus was particularly difficult for their legal department, as so many superhero-like names were copyrighted.[9][2] Art director James Robbins designed and illustrated the comic, with the titular character based on director Martin Wood's likeness. The comic book appears again in the Stargate Atlantis episode "The Gift" and SG-1 episode "Citizen Joe".[10][11] It was originally written that Felger would be painting Warhammer figures, however the company denied the idea believing that it "would depict the game in an unfavorable light" according to Mallozzi. Instead they opted to give Felger his own custom-made Stargate-maquette, along with his own homemade SG-1 figures.[7][2]
Cast and filming
Patrick McKenna reprises his role as Dr. Jay Felger, whilst Jocelyne Loewen portrays his lab assistant, Chloe Angstrom. Gary Jones and Dan Shea reprise their roles as Technician and Siler, whilst director Martin Wood also cameos as both Stargate Command technician and a Tok'ra operative who can be heard in an audio-only communication to Stargate Command.[2] Paul Lazenby, Terrance Leigh, Jim Dunn, Terrance Morris, Christopher Sayour, James Michaelopolis, Tony Morelli, Ron Robinson, Chris Lozanski, Sylvester Stuart all portray Jaffa soldiers.[12] John Billingsley, who portrayed Coombs in "The Other Guys" commented that he "was actually very sorry that they didn't bring my character back" in the episode, noting that the shows producers were unable to approach him as he was in the middle of filming Star Trek: Enterprise.[13]
"Avenger 2.0" was directed by Martin Wood, with Jim Menard as director of photography. Filming took place in early May 2003, with production filming both "Avenger 2.0" and "Enemy Mine" concurrently.[14] Tynehead Regional Park in Surrey, British Columbia was used for the scene where Jay Felger goes to 'feed the ducks', and with limited sunlight left in the day had to use a three-camera setup to quickly cover the scene.[2][15] Felger's apartment was filmed at the Accent Inn across the road from The Bridge Studios in Burnaby, British Columbia.[15][7] Wood imagined Felger's research laboratory as being deep in a part of Stargate Command that had not previously been seen onscreen, and therefore reconfigured the Stargate Command set walls in a new way for both his laboratory and the surrounding corridors.[2] Wood wanted Felger to be "obtrusive" in his scenes and therefore looked to position McKenna in-front of or overly close to other characters.[2] McKenna, along with the other actors were given room to improvise, with McKenna taking it upon himself to pretend to be on the phone to Simon Coombs from "The Other Guys" in the scene where his mother phones him at work.[2] Wood felt that in "The Other Guys", the comedy came from both Coombs and Felger being "clowns", but in "Avenger 2.0" directed Amanda Tapping to play the straight man to contrast Felger's behaviour.[2][16]
Due to the Iraq War, there was a shortage of the blank casing used in the FN P90 weapon that was often used in the show. Filming the episode marked the first time which Amanda Tapping's character Major Samantha Carter would instead be using a new custom built firearm, an amalgamation of three different weapons, known as the 'Carter Special'. In the battle scene, Tapping had a number of issues, firstly knocking over the styrofoam ruins, and then struggling to run backwards whilst firing her new weapon and then reload. Tapping later recalled struggled to insert the gun magazine, "I finally jammed in on so hard that I exploded the clip and all these shells went flying. I turned to Patrick McKenna and I said, 'I'm sorry. I'm Stargate Barbie and we're going to die.'"[17][18] In post-production, Mallozzi noted that they had "some terrific outtakes" from the episode.[1] Amongst the scenes that were shortened included the battle-sequence against Ba'al's Jaffa, with shots of Carter grenading their attackers being cut.[2][17] The CGI shots of the Goa'uld Alkesh were taken from "The Other Guys" to save money.[2]
Cultural References
Jack O'Neill asks Felger and Chloe if the weapon they've created is a Phaser, with Chloe replying that it's "more like a Photon torpedo" which are both weapons in the Star Trek franchise.[19] Felger compares himself and Carter to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, whilst when the enemy Jaffa troops appear Carter responds to Felger saying "think Bolivia" in reference to the Bolivian army who kill Butch & Sundance in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.[19] Whilst preparing to go through the Stargate with Major Carter, Felger packs Duct tape into his bag, a reference to The Red Green Show which actor Patrick McKenna portrays the character of Harold.[2] O'Neill calls Felger "Folger", which is a coffee brand in the United States and Canada.[19]
Release
Broadcast and ratings
The episode was first broadcast on August 8, 2003, on the Sci-fi Channel in the United States, and reportedly earned a Nielson rating of 1.8.[20] In the United Kingdom the episode was first shown on Sky One on November 24, 2003, attracting 650,000 viewers.[21] The episode was syndicated onto Channel 4 on October 31, 2004, and was viewed by 1.687 million households.[22][23] In Canada, the episode was first shown on Space on November 4, 2004.[24][25]
Reception
Brigid Cherry for Dreamwatch enjoyed the episode, writing "While it doesn't reach the heights of Wormhole Extreme (well, what would?) it's a pretty decent and fun romp" and awarded it 6 out of 10.[26] Julia Houston for About.com wrote "It's cute and chuckle-worthy, but I find myself wishing for something with more substance". Houston felt that "the tone of the episode is a little too uneven" and was of the opinion that "Felger's idea really is a great one and should be used in a more serious episode".[27] Jan Vincent-Rudzki for TV Zone heavily criticised the episode awarding it just 3 out of 10, proclaiming "it isn't funny, just irritating".[28] Keith R.A. DeCandido for Tor.com also reacted poorly to the episode, stating it "shows that “The Other Guys” mostly worked because of John Billingsley, whose absence is keenly felt in this unfunny disaster".[29] TV Guide made the episode one of their 'top picks' for the week.[30]
Response from contributors on fansite Gateworld.net was divided, with contributor Alli Snow calling it a "fun frolic", praising the episodes humour, whilst another contributor, Lex panned the episode writing "Felger The Geek just wasn't up to the task of providing an entertaining hour of usually intelligent television".[31] Darren Rea for Sci-fi Online awarded the episode 9 out of 10 writing "This episode proves, once again, that when SG-1 does comedy it knows how to pull out all the stops."[32] Co-writer of the episode, Joseph Mallozzi reflected on the episode, writing "it's one of those episodes you wish you could do-over".[8]
Home media
The episode was first released as part of the "Volume 34" region 2 DVD on March 29, 2004, along with episodes "Birthright" and both parts of "Evolution" and was the 2nd most popular DVD release that week in the United Kingdom.[33][34] It was then released as part of the complete Season 7 boxsets on October 19, 2004, in region 1 and February 28, 2005, in region 2.[35] The episode, along with the rest of season 7 were first made available digitally in January 2008 through iTunes and Amazon Unbox.[36] The episode, along with every other episode of the series, were made available to stream for the first time through Netflix in the USA on August 15, 2010.[37] Direct Martin Wood is joined by actor Amanda Tapping for the audio commentary, whilst a behind the scenes of the episode "Directors Series" feature is also included home media sets.[34]
References
- Mallozzi, Joseph; Mullie, Paul (25 July 2003). "SWITCHING GEARS". rdanderson.com (Interview). Interviewed by Kate Ritter.
- Wood, Martin; Tapping, Amanda (2004). Stargate SG-1 "Avenger 2.0" (DVD commentary). Vol. 34. MGM Home Entertainment.
- Cooper, Robert C. (January 2004). "Star Maker". Dreamwatch (Interview). No. 112. Interviewed by Kate Lloyd. Titan Magazines. p. 36. ISSN 1356-482X.
Avenger 2.0 saw the return of Felger [Patrick McKenna], the wacky scientist guy from the season six episode The Other Guys. He was so over the top and wacky in that episode that this was really about coming up with something even more spectacularly stupid for him to have done. And the only thing we could possibly imagine being big enough was for him to screw up the entire [Stargate system], leading to lots of chaos which Carter and Felger have to deal with! "Pat McKenna is just a wonderful Canadian actor who's great at both drama and comedy, and I just love working with him and so does everyone else on the show. He's a creative genius that maybe hasn't been recognised enough outside of Canada."
- Cooper, Robert C.; Smith, John; Mullie, Paul; Kindler, Damian; Mallozzi, Joseph (June 2003). "Seventh Heaven". TV Zone. No. Special 52. Interviewed by Steven Eramo. Visual Imagination. pp. 14–15. ISSN 0960-8230.
Well known Canadian actor/comedian Patrick McKenna reprises his role of Dr Jay Felger (from Season Six's The Other Guys) in the seventh season episode Avenger 2.0. Felger needs to redeem himself because his research at the SGC has been showing lots of promise but little results," says Joe Mallozzi, who wrote this episode with Paul Mullie. "So he comes up with this idea of a computer virus that specifically targets a Stargate and shuts it down. "He gets Carter to help him on the project and, of course, things don't go as planned. The virus ends up shutting down all the Stargates except for the one at the SGC. A number of SG reams are stranded off-world, including Teal'c and O'Neill, who aren't too happy because there's a group of Jaffa practically breathing down their necks. Then there's Daniel, who's on another world trying to re-locate people because of severe flooding conditions. The floodwaters are slowly rising and they'll soon be cut off from the gate. Felger and Carter are trying to solve the problem they've created, or think they've created, but it's not as simple as that.
- Kindler, Damian (23 July 2003). "BETWEEN THE REAL AND THE FANTASTIC". rdanderson.com (Interview). Interviewed by Kate Ritter.
- Mallozzi, Joseph (2003). "JOSEPH MALLOZZI'S PRODUCTION DIARY Go Behind the Scenes of Stargate SG-1! CHAPTER 3 - The Outline". Gateworld. Archived from the original on 13 April 2003.
- Mallozzi, Joseph (20 May 2011). "Transporter: The Series Casting News! V1 Jets President Andrew Zarrow Comes Through! Stargate: SG-1 Season 7 Memories!". josephmallozzi.com.
- Mallozzi, Joseph (28 July 2018). "My Top 10 Toughest Episodes!". josephmallozzi.com.
- McGuire, Bridget; Robbins, James; Bodnarus, Peter (June 2003). "The Art Department - Matters of Design". TV Zone Stargate SG-1 Season 7 Special. No. Special 52. Visual Imagination. pp. 71–72. ISSN 0960-8230.
Robbins created a prop especially with director Martin Wood in mind for the episode Avenger 2.0. "Jay Felger [The Other Guys] creates a computer virus that is capable of shutting down other Stargates" says Robbins. "He calls it the Avenger Virus, after a comic book he used to read as a kid. So we decided I'd do a mock-up comic book, and on the front cover is the amazing Martin Wood in full superhero garb. Martin said, 'If you can make it I'll put it in the episode,' so I did.
- DeLuise, Peter; Jones, Gary (2006). Stargate Atlantis "The Gift" (DVD commentary). Vol. 34. MGM Home Entertainment.
- Robbins, James (January 2005). "Citizen Joe & Moebius". TV Zone. No. Special 61. Visual Imagination. p. 56. ISSN 0960-8230.
However, for the seventh season story Avenger 2.0, I created a comic book called 'The Amazing Avenger: So we reused it in Citizen Joe, and I also drew covers for four or five other titles including 'Wasp Man: 'Root Guy' and 'The Destructinator'.
- "Avenger 2.0". scifi.com. Archived from the original on 15 April 2004.
- Billingsley, John (January 2005). "The Other Guy". Stargate SG-1: The Official Magazine. No. 2. Interviewed by David Bassom. Titan Magazines. p. 58.
I was actually very sorry that they didn't bring my character back when they brought Patrick's character back for an episode [season seven's Avenger 2.0] - I was in the middle of doing Enterprise and that stopped them from approaching me. But I'd like to do more. Beat the drums! I'd love to come back.
- Shanks, Michael (June 2003). "Fall from Grace". TV Zone (Interview). No. Special 52. Interviewed by Steven Eramo. Visual Imagination. pp. 37–38. ISSN 0960-8230.
At the time of this interview in early May, the cast and crew of Stargate SG-1 were filming two episodes side-by-side, Avenger 2.0 and Enemy Mine.
- Martin Wood (Director) (2004). Stargate SG-1 Directors Series: "Avenger 2.0" (DVD). MGM Home Entertainment.
- Wood, Martin (June 2003). "The Mind's Eye". TV Zone (Interview). No. Special 52. Interviewed by Steven Eramo. Visual Imagination. pp. 47–48. ISSN 0960-8230.
Avenger 2.0 differs from The Other Guys in that we don't have John Billingsley [Enterprise's Dr Phlox], who played Felger's buddy Simon Coombs. With John and Patrick together you had two clowns and no straight man. It's a very strange dynamic having two clowns playing off each other because the humour just keeps getting kicked up another notch. It's fun and it works. "When you've got a funny man and a straight man it's not quite the same. In Avenger 2.0 there's a funny man and a straight woman, Major Carter. However, she has such great comic timing. So you've got two comedians but one (Carter) is trying to play it straight. As a result, you end up with these wonderful looks and little remarks between Carter and Felger. Added to this is Jocelyne Loewen's character of Chloe. She's a nerdy little assistant who's very funny just because she's a foil to two very different people, Carter and Felger. Chloe may sound like the sober second voice but, in fact, she really isn't. The script is funny but the show is even funnier.
- Gibson, Thomasina (2005). Stargate SG-1: The Illustrated Companion: Seasons 7 and 8. London: Titan. p. 20. ISBN 1840239344.
I had just gotten a new gun because we weren't using P90's because of the war in Afghanistan. There were no shell casings so we had to stop using the P90's for a while. So they created a new weapon they're calling the Carter special. It's sort of an M16 and something else and something else - a whole mishmash. But I'd never fired it and I'd never reloaded it and I have such a Zen with my P90 [she's joking] that reloading it is like a piece of cake. But this thing... I had this round clip, you know [I don't] the big C clip, and I'm supposed to do this bit where I run forward; get behind a wall and I fire my gun at the Jaffa. I drop the clip and load another one in, a straight clip, firing backwards as I go. I hide behind another wall, drop the straight clip out and drop the C clip in, which is this massive round thing, and keep firing. OK? [Not really.] So here I go. It's twenty stunt Jaffa, three cameras; Steadycam up front, two other cameras at different angles. It's fast and it's pacy and it's all incumbent on me not messing up. Which is dodgy at best. [Her words not mine.] Oh and I have to lob a grenade in the middle of this whole sequence too. So I run forward to this rock wall. I fire my gun. I put the gun down and pull out the grenade and I leaned against the wall with my left hand while I tossed the grenade with my right and of course, as I leaned with my left hand the wall made of styrofoam fell over. The top few rocks fell off, so I went 'OK, keep going'. So I keep firing. I drop the clip. I reload. I pick up the clip and keep firing. I back up and go for the C clip and I can't for the freaking life of me get this damn thing on and I'm jamming it, I'm slamming it and Patrick McKenna is right there and I finally jammed in on so hard that I exploded the clip and all these shells went flying. I turned to Patrick McKenna and I said, 'I'm sorry. I'm Stargate Barbie and we're going to die.' I was ready to pick up the casings and start throwing them at Jaffa. So that was my first experience with my new gun.
- Tapping, Amanda (2003). "Major Resource". TV Zone (Interview). No. Special 52. Visual Imagination. pp. 25–26. ISSN 0960-8230.
We normally use P-90s on our show bur since the war [with Iraq] there's been a shortage of P-90 shells or blanks, so we can't use that particular gun as much," explains the actress. "So the props guys have made me what we call a 'Carter special', which is, in fact, an amalgamation of three different guns. It's an awesome weapon, quite powerful and much heavier and more cumbersome than the P-90. The shells eject out the side and little spits of flame shoot out from the front."Yesterday was the first time I actually used the gun. I had to fire it as well as reload it while running. Now, I'm nor the most coordinated person at the best of times, and this scene we were shooting was big. It had Jaffa coming our of the forest and bombs going off as well as special effects rigged all over the place. One mistake by an actor could screw up the whole thing. When I loaded the last magazine the clip suddenly exploded and bullets went flying all over the place. It was a little Stargate Barbie moment for me," laughs Tapping. "We're back in the studio today, though, which means I was finally able to run, load and fire the gun at the same time.
- "AVENGER 2.0". rdanderson.com.
- "RATINGS: 'Space Race'". Gateworld. 9 September 2003. Archived from the original on 16 April 2004.
- "STARGATE SG-1 RATINGS: SEASON SEVEN". Stargate SG-1 Solutions. 24 April 2004.
- "Channel 4 (SD+HD) w/e 31 Oct 2004". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. 25 October 2004.
- "TV Focus". TV Zone. No. 182. Visual Imagination. October 2004. p. 95. ISSN 0957-3844.
- "Listings for Thursday, November 04, 2004". Spacecast. 4 November 2004. Archived from the original on 6 December 2004.
- "Canada's SPACE will air new SG-1". Gateworld. 17 August 2004. Archived from the original on 13 October 2004. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
- Cherry, Brigid (September 2003). "Reviews - TV - Stargate SG-1". Dreamwatch. No. 110. Titan Magazines. p. 69. ISSN 1356-482X.
This group of episodes is populated with familiar characters from seasons five and six - Chaka the Unas from Beast of Burden and Warwick Trevor from Forsake - so now it's the turn of Felger and The Other Guys in this comedy orientated episode. While it doesn't reach the heights of Wormhole Extreme (well, what would?) it's a pretty decent and fun romp. 6.
- Houston, Julia (15 August 2003). "Stargate's "Avenger 2.0" Okay". About.com. Archived from the original on 14 May 2006.
- Vincent-Rudzki, Jan (October 2003). "Reviews: Stargate SG-1 - Season 7 - G9 - Avenger 2.0". TV Zone. No. 168. Visual Imagination. p. 70. ISSN 0957-3844.
There seems to be a very strange directive in the SGC, in that any possibly dangerous device should be tested in the vicinity of the Stargate, Earth's only reliable contact with the rest of the Universe. In this case it's a 'phaser/ photon torpedo' which Jay Felger (from last season's comedic The Other Guys) decides to test., and blows the fuses of the SGC. What's really bad is that he does this with Sam's approval, and the man is a complete baffoon. We've previously had an irritating scientist in the SGC, for whom Sam had no time, but Jay, who has nothing likeable about his character at all, seems to hold some place in her affections. The man is a bumbling fool, who admits in a phone call that he has a history of catastrophes behind him, yet everyone seems to put up with him, rather than tell him to just go away. OK, maybe he is meant to be a brilliant scientist, but there's little sign of it. This is supposed to be a comedy episode, but it isn't funny, just irritating and quite obvious, right up to the repeated dream sequence scene at the end. The fact that, at the end of the day, what goes wrong isn't exactly Jay's fault but a situation taken advantage of doesn't really help either. 3
- DeCandido, Keith R.A. (15 May 2015). "The Stargate Rewatch: SG-1 Season Seven". Tor.com.
- ""Avenger 2.0" is one of TV Guide's Top Picks this week". Gateworld. 8 August 2003. Archived from the original on 9 October 2003.
- Alli Snow; Lex (2003). "AVENGER 2.0 Review". Gateworld.
- Rea, Darren (2003). "DVD Stargate SG-1 Volume 34". Sci-fi Online.
- "Official TV On Video Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
- McCusker, Eamonn (8 June 2004). "Stargate SG-1: Volume 34 Review". The Digital Fix. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- "Season Seven gates to DVD!". Gateworld. 19 October 2004. Archived from the original on 9 December 2004. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- "Stargate expands iTunes, Amazon presence". Gateworld. 11 January 2008. Archived from the original on 15 January 2008. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- "Entire Stargate television library now streaming on Netflix". Gateworld. 16 August 2010. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
External links
- "Avenger 2.0" at IMDb
- "Avenger 2.0" at the official MGM Stargate site.
- "Avenger 2.0" at scifi.com
- "Avenger 2.0" screenplay (PDF)
- "Avenger 2.0" at the fansite Gateworld.net